For his second film on the festival circuit this year, after Kontinental ‘25 [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
scheda film] (which screened at the Berlinale), Romanian director Radu Jude brings the world’s most famous vampire to Locarno. Dracula [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Radu Jude
scheda film], which world-premiered in the main competition, uses the techniques of decoupage and pastiche, as well as AI-generated erotic vampiric imagery, to rethink how those in power today resemble bloodsuckers, as evident from his conversation with Cineuropa.

Cineuropa: Why is now a good time for Dracula? Is there something in the zeitgeist that you are perhaps addressing?
Radu Jude: I didn't think of that while making the film, but while finishing it, I felt that way. For instance, I already premiered one movie this year at Berlin [Kontinental ‘25], and there was a discussion as to whether to wait until next year to show Dracula, so as to make sure the two films wouldn’t cannibalise each other. But I insisted, since I really felt that both movies belong to this moment, in different ways, of course. I don't want to trivialise the big tragedies of our time, but you can think of Vladimir Putin and of Netanyahu as the most horrible vampires since Hitler.

Did you experience any pushback, since Dracula is not only a political symbol, it seems, but also this tourist attraction, while being based on Romanian history?
He is literally an icon! A few months ago, the fascist party featured him as the face of their campaign. In Romania, I think it's going to elicit mixed reactions, to say the least. But I like to work around myths. At first, what I thought was hard was how to offer something which is, at least in part, new because the myth of the vampire and Dracula has been done to death in the West, without relying so much on local elements.

Speaking of which, you shot on location in Sighisoara and with an iPhone. It must have been a compact setup, with more cast than crew, is that right?
Yes, we had a very, very small crew and no additional lights. Shooting on an iPhone was very helpful, actually, because we filmed during a tourism boom, and it felt like it was just some students shooting. Nobody pays attention when it doesn't look like a “real” film crew.

You are a filmmaker who’s always experimenting with the new tools available, and AI plays a prominent role in Dracula. Do you feel like you've exhausted that possibility, at least for now?
Well, first of all, I think there's always been a strong connection between cinema and technology, which means that any tool can be used in order to create it. And a painter can use a big or a small brush, paint with their hands, paint with oil and so on. It should be the same for cinema, and as for the possibilities, they’re never exhausted. Especially with AI, this is just the beginning – there are no rules yet.

What was the most useful aspect of AI in this film?
I took a different approach by choosing the bad images. The hope for AI is to create better and nicer images, so we kept choosing the bad ones each time. Since its algorithms are getting better and better with time, and the human input is hugely important, I insisted on using the first image to appear [out of the prompt] – that was the principle. I worked with a composer who’s very passionate about AI, and at one point, he asked me whether I wanted to wait another month [before we continued], until a new version of the AI was available. But I said no, because it also marked the particular moment we are in now, amidst this first generation of AI.

Part of the film is an adaptation of the first Romanian vampire novel, and other parts directly reference well-known adaptations like Francis Ford Coppola’s film. Was there a difference between your approaches to local and foreign sources?
I’m currently reading a book about modern art called A Fine Disregard by Kirk Varnedoe, where he makes an argument about the cultural exchanges that go back and forth throughout history. For instance, the first Romanian novella with vampires actually tried to imitate a Western source, and that’s what makes it interesting. Likewise, I claim that Dracula is a very local, Romanian film, but I was inspired by the avant-garde of Roger Corman and Ed Wood, and the literature of Boccaccio and Rabelais. Also, the iPhone I shot on is not a Romanian tool!